Streams of the Ozarks are treasures to be protected

May 23, 2012

Loring Bullard displays a smallmouth bass he caught on the North Fork River. / Submitted photo

Written by

Loring

BULLARD

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I love to float Ozarks streams. There is something about them that attracts me — mesmerizes me — keeps me coming back, faithfully, year after year, exploring their changing seasons and moods. Floaters enjoy an up-close and personal peek into the river’s complex personality.

But these natural treasures are more than pleasant escapes from the stresses of city life. They are among the richest, wildest pieces of native landscape we have left. They are magnets for living things, large and small, aquatic and terrestrial. Nowhere is life found in more abundance or diversity than in and along the river.

Streams are wonderful recreational assets, too, bolstering our tourism-dependent economy. But they are much more than that. They are the region’s lifeblood; some of its finest productions — vestiges of what the Ozarks once were. But if we don’t take better care of them, our children and grandchildren may never know the joys of drifting on deep blue pools beneath towering bluffs, or accelerating through rocky chutes, or swimming in water so clear you can see every colorful detail of a spawning sunfish.

To me, losing those kinds of experiences would be a real tragedy.

Many Ozarks streams are still fairly healthy, but they are sending us distress signals — eroded banks, degraded water quality, depleted game fish and the disappearance of remarkably adapted life forms like mussels and hellbenders. The threats are many, and sometimes subtle. As water professionals are fond of saying, the stream is a reflection of its watershed, and we could do a much better job of managing our impacts on watersheds.

But rivers are complicated. To really protect them, people across the watershed from all walks of life will have to cooperate. People who love rivers can help by supporting local watershed organizations like the James River Basin Partnership, Watershed Committee of the Ozarks and Missouri Stream Teams. Only by working together can we ensure that future generations will have streams they can float — and love.

Loring Bullard retired in November from his role as executive director for Watershed Committee of the Ozarks.